Garment hanger guards



June 5, 1962 H. B. TILLERY ETAL 3,037,675

GARMENT HANGER GUARDS Filed April 24. 1959 INVENTOR. f/uder/B. fill.

zzzffierzy'l llexy. W z WW fifftazweys v States The present invention relates broadly to garment hangers and more specifically to an improvement in a guard that is applied to the hanger for supporting garments such as pants, skirts and the like.

The customary practice in dry cleaning and tailoring establishments is to place on the horizontal rod or bar portion of a wire garment hanger a guard to protect and prevent a garment from becoming'creased and wrinkled when placed thereon. The guard is usually formed from paper or cardboard and various means are utilized to insure the retention of the guard on the hanger. There are certain guards, in present-day usage, that are so designed and are of such configuration as to insure the proper and correct retention of the garment thereon.

These guards are, in the majority of instances, formed with slits or notches in the ends thereof for the reception or engagement with the inclined or shoulder portions of a conventional wire garment hanger. The usual practice is to make the guards of such a length as to completely cover the horizontal rod or bar of the hanger, thus the ends of the guard either project slightly beyond or terminate at the point where the inclined shoulder portion meets the horizontal rod of the hanger.

In recent years it has been regarded as standard procedure to use covering bags or envelopes into which the cleaned garment, supported on a hanger, is placed prior to being delivered to the customer. Heretofore the bag or envelope has been made from either medium or lightweight paper, but lately the trend has been to use lightweight transparent plastic bags formed from some suitable resinous material such as polyethylene.

While the use of such plastic bags does permit ready inspection of the cleaned garment and undoubtedly reduces the operating costs of the cleaning establishment, certain problems have developed. The bags usually formed from a very thin film of plastic material are readily susceptible to being torn and this has been found to occur particularly when garments such as pants, skirts, shorts and the like are being placed in the bags. It has been determined that in the greater majority of instances when garments, such as pants, skirts and the like, are being placed in plastic bags the ends of the guards, whether they terminate within the confines of the wire hanger or project slightly beyond the hanger, have a tendency to engage or snag the plastic bag, thus tearing the bag. This of course necessitates the replacement of the bag, resulting in higher operating costs.

The guard of the present invention is so designed as to permit the ready insertion into a plastic bag of a garment on a hanger without said bag being torn or ripped.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide a garment hanger guard having the end portions thereof so formed that the ends of the guard follow the contours of the inclined shoulder portions of the hanger.

Another object is to provide a garment hanger guard having the ends thereof scored and folded or bent whereby the guard will cover the entire horizontal portion and part of the inclined shoulder portions of a garment hanger.

Another object is to provide a garment hanger guard having the end portions thereof folded in such a manner that the ends of said guard are inclined outwardly and upwardly with respect to the body of the guard.

Still another object is to provide a garment hanger guard with the ends so bent or shaped as to form a trough or guideway on one face thereof for receiving the inclined shoulder portions of the garment hanger.

Still other objects are to provide a guard that is readily attachable and retainable upon a garment hanger, which provides relatively smooth and substantially rounded end portions and which is economical of manufacture.

Other objects and advantages, more or less auxiliary to the foregoing in the manner in which all of the various objects are realized will appear in the following description which, when considered in connection with the accompanying drawing, sets forth the preferred embodiment of the invention.

Referring to the drawing wherein the preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated:

FEGURE 1 is a side elevational view with the guard of the present invention applied to a garment hanger;

FIGURE 2 is a fragmentary top plan view showing the guard in a flat position;

FIGURE 3 is a vertical sectional view of one end portion of the guard, the section being taken on the plane 3-3 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is a top plan view of a fragmentary end portion of the guard;

FIGURE 5 is a side elevational view of one end portion of the guard;

FIGURE 6 is a cross sectional view of one end portion of the guard, the view being taken on the plane 66 of FIGURE 4;

FIGURE 7 is a longitudinal sectional view of an end of the guard, the view being taken on the plane 77 of FIGURE 4; and

FIGURE 8 is an end elevational view of the guard. I

Referring to FIGURE 1 of the drawings, there is shown a conventional wire garment hanger formed from a single strand of wire and having a suspending hook 10 with inclined shoulder portions or segments 11 which latter are connected by a horizontal rod or bar portion 12. The inclined shoulder portions or segments 11 at their point of jointure with the horizontal rod 12 are bent or formed with a suitable radii to provide curved or arcuate segments 14.

The guard 15 is preferably formed from relatively stiff material such as thick paper stock, molded paper pulp having an adhesive hinder or stiffener agent, cardboard or the like. The relatively stiff material is formed in a suitable die or mandrel, while in a slightly moist or dampened condition, to produce the guard 15 which is curved or of arcuate configuration in cross section, FIG- URE 6. When so formed the guard 15 is relatively rigid and stiff, yet it is, to a small degree, pliable and flexible in a direction transverse to its longitudinal axis so that it will have a tendency to flare outwardly in a transverse direction whenever a garment is placed thereon. The outwardly flaring action, however, is relatively small and only tends to slightly increase the area which forms the garment supporting surface as the material from which it is made and the manner of forming the guard insure that it will retain its shape and not be crushed by the weight of the garment thereon.

In the forming operation the guard 15 is subjected to the action of suitable dies to provide rounded or curved ends 16 and at the same time the ends of the guard are formed with notches or indentations 17 that are on the longitudinal axis of the guard, FIGURE 2. The ends of the guard 15 are, contemporaneous with the forming of the rounded ends 16 and the notches 17, subjected, on the under surface thereof, to a suitable die or scoring action which starts at the end of the guard on one side of the notch 17 and moves in an arcuate path a predetermined distance towards the center of the guard and then curves and moves in a complementary manner towards the same end of the guard and terminates on the other side of the same notch 17. The creasing or scoring 19 formed at the ends of the guard 15 has a slight elliptical shape or pattern when the guard is viewed in its normal operative condition, FIGURE 4, and provides a weakened area or segment at each end of the guard.

The rounded or curved end portions 16 of the guard 15 are, during the forming operation, subjected to a folding action with the portion of the ends about midway of the scoring 19 being bent inwardly toward one another along the under surface of the guard. The folded ends are adapted to lie on opposite sides of the longitudinal axis of the guard in spaced relation to one another, FIG- URES 6 and 8. The bending or folding of the end portions 16 of the guard is along the outer portion of the scoring or creasing 19, FIGURE 4, so that the folds are on opposite sides of the notch 17 and together with the notch define a guideway or channel 20 for the reception of the arcuate segments 14 and the inclined shoulder portions 11 of the garment hanger. The end portions 16 of the guard are formed with a slight transverse crease 21, FIGURES and 7, which is about midway of the scoring 19 and is approximately at the point on the scoring are 19 at which the ends are folded under the guard. Thus the scoring of the ends of the guard, the bending or folding of the ends 16 along at least a portion of the scoring 19, and the slight transverse crease 21 permit the ends of the guard 15, during the forming operation, to be so configured as to readily follow the contour of a wire garment hanger at the juncture of the inclined shoulder portions 11 and the horizontal rod or bar 12. Furthermore, the scoring or creasing 19 provides weakened segments in the end portions of the guard, thus making the ends of the guard so flexible that they may be almost bent back upon themselves as the ends follow the contour of the arcuate segments -14, as shown in FIGURE 1.

The guard of the present invention is readily mounted or placed upon a wire garment hanger by simply inserting one of the inclined shoulder portions 11 in the guideway at one end of the guard 15 and then moving the guard down until the horizontal rod 12 is engaged. contemporaneous with the foregoing, the other end of the guard 15 is bent or flexed to enable the guideway 20 on said end to snap over the other inclined shoulder portion 11 after which the entire guard is pushed down into engagement with the arcuate segments 14- and the horizontal bar 12. The channels or guideways 20 at the ends of the guard enable the folded ends 16 of the guard to overlie the outer surface of the arcuate segments 14 and a part of the inclined shoulder portions 11. Thus, due to the flexibility of the end portions of the guard in following the contour of the arcuate segments 14 and presenting a smooth outer surface at said area on the hanger, the guard is adapted to support various garments thereon without the ends of the guard being so positioned as to readily tear or rip a garment bag as it is being placed over the garment supported on the hanger and guard.

We claim:

A guard for a wire garment hanger wherein the guard is formed of relatively stifl material and comprises an elongated body portion curved transversely of its length, said body portion formed with notches at each end thereof coinciding with its longitudinal axis, said body portion being provided at each end thereof with elliptical shaped creases arranged to extend inwardly towards the center of the body portion with the major axis of the elliptical shaped creases coinciding with the longitudinal axis of the body portion and with the ends of said creases terminating on opposite sides of said notches, the sides of said body portion adjacent each end being folded inwardly towards one another along a portion of said crease with said folded portions being spaced from one another and lying adjacent the under surface of said body portion to define a guideway for a wire garment hanger, each end of said body portion having a transverse crease intersecting said elliptical crease approximately midway of its length to permit the folded end portions to flex and project upwardly at a slight inclination to the body portion.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,987,174 Zetlin Jan. 8, 1935 2,574,860 Coflin Nov. 13, 1951 2,665,829 Tillery Ian. 12, 1954 2,721,679 Mason Oct. 25, 1955 2,813,668 Griifis Nov. 19, 1957 

